The present invention relates to a stackable carrier for goods or articles, more particularly a plastic crate, comprising a support bottom part with corner columns which fit, at their top and bottom ends respectively, into the bottom and top respectively of a correspondingly shaped carrier or crate disposed respectively thereon or therebeneath.
Stackable carriers of this type are known per se. Their corner columns form a relatively rigid construction to enable the force and weight of the goods in the stacked carriers to be received. A support bottom sometimes comprises upright columns projecting above the support bottom part.
Irrespective of the construction of the stackable carriers, there is always the problem that they have to occupy a minimum amount of space when empty while, when in use, they should enable the largest possible quantity of goods or articles to be accommodated in a minimum amount of space.
To prevent empty carriers from occupying a considerable amount of space, attempts have been made to find various solutions, e.g. to nest box-shaped carriers into each other or to place shallower carriers alternately crosswise on a preceding carrier to allow a more compact stacking of empty carriers. An example of this latter construction is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,815, issued to Houston REHRIG, on July 11, 1972. In this Patent Specification two long side walls of the bottom part of the carrier are low with respect to the other walls thereof, so as to provide space to accommodate a carrier placed transversely thereon. Although this feature does provide some saving of space with stacked carriers, the total volume of empty carriers stacked upon each other is still considerable, because the space occupied by the even and uneven stacked carriers still corresponds to that of full carriers.